Southern Africa faces acute food shortage

Southern Africa faces an acute food shortage after months of erratic rains, flooding and displacement. South Africa remains the bread basket of the region and the biggest exporter of staple crops such as maize and wheat but South Africans living in rural communities still face food insecurity and hunger on a daily basis.

The entire Southern African region is facing one of its worst food shortages, according to the United Nations deputy humanitarian chief, Catherine Bragg.

Concluding her five-day visit to Southern Africa, Bragg called on regional nations and humanitarian agencies to work together in order to address the region’s chronic food shortages.

â€œSouthern Africa is facing a silent food-insecurity emergency,” said Bragg. â€œIn Lesotho, about a third of the population does not have enough food to eat or sell. In Zimbabwe, 1.6 million people are expected to be food insecure, and many families are selling their own livestock to cope with this dire situation.”

Livestock sale is considered a last resort option for many families across rural Africa who typically associate herd size with personal wealth.

According to the World Food Programme 2012 regional food security update erratic rains, cyclones and displacement are largely responsible for the lack of food in Southern Africa.

The report goes on to say that South Africa’s projected closing of stocks for the 2011-2012 marketing season was 693,000, the lowest figure on record since 1992-1993.

The African Union is yet to make an official statement on the food crisis in Southern African. However, newly appointed African Union Commission Chief and former wife of President Jacob Zuma, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, outlined food security as a priority for the African Union.

â€œAfrica has one quarter of the world’s arable land and land is a source of livelihood for 70 percent of the population. Yet the continent generates only 10 percent of global agricultural output,” Dlamini-Zuma indicated in the report. â€œThe African Union will therefore put maximum effort to implement the provisions of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme so that Africa can feed itself and have more for export.”

South Africa remains the largest food exporter in the region. However, the bulk of South Africa’s exported staple crops leave Africa. 71% of South Africa’s total maize output was exported to Mexico last year.

A USAID report on the region claims that the food shortages South Africa’s neighbours are experiencing will put a strain on South Africa’s exportable maize surplus.

Section 27 of South Africa’s constitution entitles every South African citizen to sufficient food and water, and that â€œthe state must by legislation and other measures, within its available resources, avail to progressive realization of the right to sufficient food.”

The Department for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing has adopted a Zero Hunger Policy in an effort to eradicate all forms of food insecurity in South Africa by 2030.

However, in a report from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group in May, the chairperson of the Committee on the Zero Hunger Programme and Food Security Policy â€œformally expressed great displeasure at the Department’s continued failed projects.”

Is it just the weather or have inadequate land policies also left South Africans hungry for reform on agriculture? Leave your comments below.

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